Armenian News... A Topalian 7 editorials

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From the Diocese of the Armenian Church of the UK and Ireland

Dr Arman Kirakossian,  the Armenian ambassador to the UK, one of the best and most experienced diplomats, passed away In London.

No further details are available.

Armenpress.am

3 July, 2019

Baku refused to ensure Armenian delegation’s security at UNESCO Committee session

Azerbaijan refused to provide additional written security measures to ensure the unrestricted entry of the Armenian delegation to Baku aimed at taking part in the session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Thus, Azerbaijan hindered the Armenian delegation’s participation to the session, Armenia has filed an official complaint in this regard, 

Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan told reporters during today’s briefing in Yerevan.

“The 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is being held in Baku from June 30 to July 10, and Armenia’s delegation has been invited to take part in the session as an observer. The Armenian side has applied to UNESCO on this matter to receive additional respective security measures from the hosting country for the participation of the Armenian delegation, given the impossibility of the entry of the Armenian citizens and ethnic Armenians in general to that country and the anti-Armenian propaganda being carried out in this country with a daily regime, as well as the discriminatory attitude towards ethnic Armenians. We have been in touch with the secretariat regarding this matter, and the secretariat has always made efforts to receive from the hosting authorities the necessary guarantees for the Armenian side. Despite the efforts, two days before the event, on June 28, the Armenian delegation received the letter of the UNESCO assistant secretary general according to which Azerbaijan, in fact, has refused to provide additional written security measures to ensure the unrestricted entry of the Armenian delegation to the country and its participation to that event”, Naghdalyan said.

The Armenian MFA spokeswoman said this contains a vicious precedent when a country, that is a member of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, can block the exercise of another member state’s right to participate in the session. Armenia has submitted an official appeal to the UNESCO leadership and member states, calling on to pay attention to this vicious behavior, as well as come up with a strongly condemning position.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress.am

4 July, 2019

Government raises honor fee of Great Patriotic War veterans by 50,000 drams

The amount of monthly honor fee of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War has been set at 100,000 drams instead of 50,000 drams.

The respective decision was adopted during today’s session of the Armenian government.

The decision aims at raising the social protection level of the Great Patriotic War veterans, to ensure their activity and welfare.

According to the 2019 state budget, 238,200 drams for the honor fees of the veterans have been envisaged for 397 beneficiaries. As of May 1, 2019, honor fees have been paid to 318 veterans.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress.am

4 July, 2019

Bishop Sahak Mashalian elected Istanbul’s Armenian patriarchal locum tenens

Bishop Sahak Mashalian has been elected a patriarchal locum tenens in the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, Agos reported.

On July 4 the election a patriarchal locum tenens was held in the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul.

There were two candidates – Archbishop Aram Ateshyan and Bishop Sahak Mashalian.

According to Agos, Mashalian received 13 votes, whereas Ateshyan – 11 votes.

On March 8, 2019, Patriarch Mesrob II died in Istanbul after being more than a decade in a dementia-related coma.

An election of a patriarchal locum tenens was scheduled to take place on June 27, but it was delayed until July 4 based on the letter received from the Istanbul Governor’s Office.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

Armenpress.am

5 July, 2019

Archbishop Aram Ateshyan elected chair of Spiritual Council of Istanbul’s Armenian Patriarchate

The Spiritual Council of Istanbul’s Armenian Patriarchate held a meeting on July 5 chaired by patriarchal locum tenens Bishop Sahak Mashalian, the Patriarchate told Armenpress.

A decision was made to elect Archbishop Aram Ateshyan as chair of the Spiritual Council.

Previously, Bishop Sahak Mashalian was serving as chair of the Spiritual Council, but on July 4 he was elected as patriarchal locum tenens, therefore, this position remained vacant.

After the election of Mashalian as locum tenens, the process of electing a new patriarch has officially launched in the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul.

Patriarch Mesrob II died in March 2019.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan

RFE/RL Report

‘Crime Bosses’ Again Rounded Up By Armenian Police

July 03, 2019

Ruzanna Stepanian

The Armenian police have detained and questioned in recent weeks dozens of men 

described by them as major crime figures.

The brief detentions were reported in several regions of Armenia as well as 

Yerevan. Nobody was apparently charged with a crime as a result.

A police statement said that in the northwestern Shirak province one 

“thief-in-law” and over a dozen “criminal authorities,” terms commonly applied 

to crime bosses in the former Soviet Union, were taken into custody because of 

being suspected of various crimes or resisting police officers’ orders. 

Officers also raided and searched the homes of 14 such individuals.

Around thirty other alleged crime figures were rounded up in the southern 

Ararat province, according to the police. They too are understood to have been 

released shortly after being arrested.

The police also conducted a similar operation in the northern Tavush province. 

They said police officers there had “prophylactic” conversations with 

individuals with criminal records or other ties to the underworld in an effort 

to prevent possible crimes.

“Prophylactic” arrests were also made in two other Armenian provinces: 

Aragatsotn and Syunik. In Yerevan, one “thief-in-law” not named by the police 

was taken in for questioning on Monday.

Incidentally, Andranik Harutiunian, a reputed crime figure also known as 

“Masivtsi Andik,” was shot and killed in Yerevan late on Tuesday. Armenia’s 

Investigative Committee was quick to launch a criminal inquiry into the 

46-year-old-man’s death. It did not report any arrests by Wednesday afternoon.

The police already carried out such mass detentions in June 2018. They were 

ordered by Valeri Osipian, the new chief of the national police service 

appointed following the April-May 2018 “Velvet Revolution.”

Financial Mirror, Cyprus

July 4 2019

CYPRUS: Armenia Assembly Speaker seeks closer ties, Melkonian issue revived

Officials from the parliaments of Cyprus and Armenia met on Thursday and discussed ways of closer cooperation, especially within parliamentary organisations in which the two countries participate, in the light of Armenia’s EU aspirations and Turkish threats to Cyprus natural gas exploration plans.

Ararat Mirzoyan, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, is heading a parliamentary delegation in Nicosia, after House of Representatives President Demetris Syllouris visited Yerevan in May last year, just days after the “Velvet Revolution” saw a radical regime change, ending decades of corruption and failing politics.

In a joint declaration in the House, the two leaders said: “During the meeting, the importance of close ties connecting Cyprus and Armenia and their peoples that have deep roots in history on the basis of common principles and values was stressed.”

Mirzoyan said that Armenia fully supports the just struggle of the Republic of Cyprus and its positions regarding the Turkish provocations in the Cyprus exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Cyprus has awarded exploration licenses to global giants ExxonMobil, Total, Eni, Kogas, Qatar Petroleum, Shell and Noble Energy that have discovered commercial deposits of natural gas which need several more years to be exploited. But Turkey continues its provocations in the area, sending survey vessels and drillships to conduct illegal exploration under the cover of a strong naval presence, putting claim to these offshore blocs.

Mirzoyan said that he and Syllouris discussed the challenges facing the two countries, meaning the Turkish provocations in the Cyprus EEZ and the Nagorno Karabakh issue. For the latter, he said that the status and security of Nagorno-Karabakh are the major priorities for Armenia, supporting a solution through peaceful means and that the conflict can’t be resolved without the crucial decision of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is the main party to the conflict.

On the Cyprus issue and the Turkish challenges it faces, he conveyed Armenia’s full support in the just struggle of the Republic of Cyprus.

Welcoming Mirzoyan, Syllouris said they discussed issues concerning the Armenian community in Cyprus and cooperation with representative Vartkes Mahdessian. 

“We talked about the past, common relations, traumatic experiences, genocides that both Greeks and Armenians suffered, the Turkish invasion, something we are still going through. We also discussed current violations of Cyprus’ EEZ by Turkey and how to build in a more practical manner, cooperation in all fields.”

Today’s meeting aims at turning our very good relations to even more practical cooperation, he added.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mirzoyan said that the roots that bind the two countries are deep. “We are here to further deepen these relations and bonds”, he said.

Mirzoyan thanked the House for ratifying the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement on June 28, something which is very important for Armenia as it is trying to improve its relations with Europe.

“I expressed my gratitude to Speaker Syllouris because those who survived the Armenian Genocide found refuge in Cyprus and enjoy equal rights with the people here.”

Mirzoyan and MPs Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, Vladimir Vardanyan, Shake Isayan, Anna Konstayan, Tsovinar Vardanyan and Hripsime Grigoryan met with House Foreign Affairs Committee President Yiorgos Lillikas, Deputy President Nicos Tornaritis and MPs Giorgos Loukaides, Angelos Votsis, Costis Efstathiou and Aristos Damianou, as well as Armenian Representative Vartkes Mahdessian.

The need to expand bilateral cooperation in the areas of education and youth was also noted, together with the importance of a direct flight connection between the two countries.

 

Syllouris: Melkonian “should reopen”

 

Both parliamentary delegations also discussed the issue of the closure in 2005 of the historic Melkonian Educational Institute in Nicosia, and current efforts by the administrators to sell the land, despite appeals by officials from Cyprus that the school should reopen in order to serve a great need in the Armenian Diaspora.

Syllouris attached importance to the centuries-old historic and cultural ties between Cyprus and Armenia, the role of the Armenian community of Cyprus in the public and economic life of the country, as well as the destiny of the Melkonian school.

The Cyprus House President has a special fondness to the Melkonian issue, a matter he raised during his meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan in May 2018, noting that it should not be made available for any commercial activities, but a solution should be found to benefit the Armenian diaspora and the community in Cyprus, with Melkonian becoming a centre of excellence for education, technology and research.

During his meeting with then-National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan, Syllouris had said many Armenians and the entire Cypriot nation were against selling the Melkonian and expressed certainty that with patience a solution would be found.

He had recalled how in July 2016, he was the guest of honour at a special event in Nicosia to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Melkonian orphanage.

Syllouris said he was emotionally overwhelmed when he received a commemorative plaque dedicated to “All the governments and the people of Cyprus” from Dr Daniel Abdoulian, one of the oldest surviving graduates from 1944, who came especially for the event from the U.S.

Syllouris expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the award and said that it would be placed at the Presidential Palace because of its dedication “to the entire nation of Cyprus” that has always had brotherly relations with the island’s Armenian community.

The organisers of the event had praised Syllouris “and all his colleagues in the House of Representatives” who supported the initial campaigns in 2004 and 2005 to keep the school open and preserve the buildings and the forest (planted by the first orphans who escaped from the Genocide) as a ‘protected national heritage site’.

The parliamentary delegation from Armenia will visit the Melkonian on Friday afternoon, where they are expected to meet with community members who will appeal for the reopening of the school and the prevention of the property sale.

ARKA, Armenia

July 4 2019

All sewage and wastewaters of Gegharkunik province flow into Lake Sevan

All sewage and wastewaters of the Gegharkunik province fall into Lake Sevan, Armenian Environment Minister Erik Grigoryan told journalists on Thursday. He said there are only three mechanical wastewater treatment plants in the region, whose operation does not change the quality of the sewage and wastewaters.

According to the minister, the amount of chemical waste has increased because of the increasing number of washing machines used by local households. He said temperature also plays an important role in changing the lake's ecosystem.

He said this past June has already been officially declared the hottest month in history. Precipitation in May was little in the Sevan region, however, additional 36 million cubic meters of water arrived, while the historically minimum is 33 million," said Grigoryan.

On clean-up work, the minister said it has been decided that shore cleaning could be carried out with the help of local communities.

"The wetland areas have been fully explored – they make about 77 hectares. This year we have already announced a competition for shore cleaning, which should be larger than last year. We plan that this whole area will be cleared in 2020-2201," he said.

Lake Sevan is the largest body of water in Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is situated in Gegharkunik province at an altitude of 1,900 m above sea level. Its’ basin’s total surface area is about 5,000 km2, which makes up 1⁄6 of Armenia's territory. The lake itself is 1,242 km2. It is fed by 28 rivers and streams. Sevan has significant economic, cultural, and recreational value. Its only island (now a peninsula) is home to a medieval monastery. -0-